The Most Common Types of Cyber Attacks

Security threats occur all the time- your operating system, internal data processes, and individual computers are under constant attack. Hackers look for sensitive information they can use to make money and ruin your business. By understanding the common cyber-attack patterns and situations, you’ll prevent disaster and continue work as usual.

TYPES OF CYBER ATTACKS AND HOW TO RECOGNIZE THEM

ITque has a wide knowledge base and deep understanding of the different forms of cyber attacks and how they can affect your business. We’ve compiled a list of the most common cyber security threats, how to spot them, and how to prevent them from damaging your business.

DISTRIBUTED DENIAL OF SERVICE (DDOS)

A DDoS attack is meant to overwhelm the services and systems at your disposal so they are unable to respond to service requests. These attacks are launched from many host machines infected by malicious software controlled by the attacker. Many attacks that are perceived as DDoS are actually denial of service (DoS) attacks, which perform the same function but without the large virus attack to back them up. Having preventative measures to back up key systems mitigates the risk of outside forces breaching your services and stealing what they want.

SMURF ATTACK

Another common cyber security risk, smurf attacks involve using IP spoofing and ICMP to saturate a target network with traffic. Essentially, the ICMP creates an echo request for a specific range of frequencies, forcing all IPs to respond and flood your network with traffic. This process is repeatable and stacks, causing ongoing stress to your infrastructure. Should this occur, disabling your IP-directed broadcasts at your routers will prevent the echo broadcast from finding a target. While this stalls the attack, you should address the problem with experts to determine the best response method.

BOTNETS

Like a science fiction movie, botnets are millions of systems infected with malware under the control of a hacker. These systems are then directed to attack a service through a DDoS assault, overwhelming the target and causing a systems breach. These attacks are difficult to track due to the botnets locations, which come from various sources worldwide. Preventing this zombie swarm requires specialized filtering. Services such as black hole filtering drop undesirable traffic before it enters protected networks. When a DDoS attack is detected, the filter begins blocking out all traffic heading towards your systems, preventing a breach.

CALL ITQUE TODAY

ITque is a Campbell-based Managed IT Security & Services company with more than 100 small and medium-sized businesses in California and beyond. We focus on network and data security as these are the lifeblood of most small businesses.

Our technicians have more than 127 years of combined, hands-on IT experience with companies of all sizes and in various industries, including legal, financial, hospitality, health care, construction, entertainment, machine shop, pharmaceutical, high-tech, and more.

Further, in their previous lives, our CTO and technicians have worked for some of the largest security companies and on many large security projects with the likes of SSH, F-Secure, Kaspersky, and Sophos, as well as consulting privately on nationwide IT Security projects for Best Western and Circle K’s Credit Card processing networks.

We help you find solutions for any IT issues possible, from malicious code to data breaches, phishing attacks to cloud services support. Our IT expertise covers every system and service you can imagine, from network security to cloud solutions.

This is one of many reasons ITque is a leading Managed IT Security and Service Provider in the Bay Area and was recently named Preferred Managed IT Service Provider for Dasher Technologies.

Contact us today at 408-641-7030.